The Index thread (please keep to subject)

kevinw729 said:

After doing a bit more background work on the Superdata numbers I still think the 50,000+ sale number for Valve INDEX seems accurate based on what we know - if that is the case, I cant really see how this will be a profitable or sustainable business for them - a lot is resting on the reliability of the systems they have fielded, their QA and those "magical" in development AAA VR titles!

I wonder if Gabe needs to make a lot of money from the Index. Valve profits from the devs - isn't it like 30% of each game sale going into Valve's pockets? So when Steam servers are running Valve can just relax, sit back and watch the money flow in their direction... Maybe they can afford exchanging all these faulty controllers and Index is more like a trophy... I believe 50K Index sales are quite realistic. 

I read somewhere that thumb stick were like a last minute decision - before (I guess) Knuckles looked like this - maybe Valve now regrets changing the design, lol:

RuneSR2 said:
....

I wonder if Gabe needs to make a lot of money from the Index. Valve profits from the devs - isn't it like 30% of each game sale going into Valve's pockets? So when Steam servers are running Valve can just relax, sit back and watch the money flow in their direction... Maybe they can afford exchanging all these faulty controllers and Index is more like a trophy... I believe 50K Index sales are quite realistic. 
.....

Yeah, I am not sold on the "needs to make money" - this has been a pet project to steer the opportunity seen by the operation in supporting VR content on their portal. Their partnership with HTC did not evolve in the direction they wanted, and they have worked hard to define the real VR future they want to support. The INDEX is an ends to a means, and is more a DK2 than a final product. The last minute changing seems to bore this out - I am not surprised about the thumb stick as I was about GabeN demanding the Frunck.  

The sudden change in direction and even reversal of support of Enterprise are all parr for the course from a company that is dabbling - while raking in millions from their core business of absently managing the largest of the game portal sales services. The way that "VR Games" have been cosseted by the service shows a continuing commitment, but its clear that they expect others to do the heavy lifting.

Like pushing a unfinished ship down the jetty, but expecting others to do the sailing. This AAA VR release later is going to be the equivalent of the bottle of champagne being broken across the INDEX's bows, but I do not expect much more of their own investment (ala SteamPC)!

For now it's the fastest support I can remember - got this 2 hours ago - awesome that they didn't try to make me update drivers, os or anything - or wanted a video of the problem etc:

Played Seeking Dawn last night, had to abandon it on my other graphics card as it was too demanding but now playing on high with my new card. Great game but I feel the long distances of many of the locations does not work well with the CV1 resolution. Have you tried this with the index?

Luciferous said:

Played Seeking Dawn last night, had to abandon it on my other graphics card as it was to demanding but now playing on high with my new card. Great game but I feel the long distances of many of the locations does not work well with the CV1 resolution. Have you tried this with the index?

Yes, stick with the CV1 for now. This game profits from the oled blacks - and I'm only using ss 1.4 or 1.6 in-game (CV1) - and with the help from ASW2.0 45 fps usually feel like 90. Seeking Dawn probably needs a 3080 Ti to run great with the Index - or you have to reduce ss so much that graphics don't look good. For now you really need 90 fps for the Index to shine (due to lack of ASW2) - and getting those 90 (good-looking) fps in Seeking Dawn is extremely hardware demanding. 
For now the game doesn't correctly support Knuckles, maybe the Index could be more interesting with proper controller support. If you get the Index, don't buy the game again on Steam, Revive should work just as well. 

Just shipped one baby to Holland  :'( At least Valve pays for everything  :)  

Edit: Sorry read ar as vr througout the whole article.
 Im lost :)

Seems like Valve is showing some interest in fruit these days... 

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/11/04/apple-has-partnered-with-valve-ar-headset/

Ar? Who cares about ar... Don't want to shoot aliens in my own house, I want to shoot them on their planet! 

I can finally see what you mean about ss 2.0. I played RoboRecall tonight and the clarity was impressive.

Luciferous said:

I can finally see what you mean about ss 2.0. I played RoboRecall tonight and the clarity was impressive.

Thanks, yes, ss 1.8 is also fine, but ss 2.0 gives you that last perfect sharpness especially seen with text, and it'll also give you slightly more 3D depth (you can zoom out slightly more before things look blurry). Many games work flawlessly using ss 2.0 - and ss 2.0 already was supported in Lone Echo by the devs through in-game settings, so they too must have thought that it matters ;)

I'd say going from ss 1.0 to 2.0 would be like getting a new and much more high-res hmd. Still it's far from as good as the Index, especially when forcing ss 2.0 (=SteamVR 200% res) with the Index, but it makes CV1 look so sharp and crisp that I still enjoy using it. 
Btw, remember that Seeking Dawn multiplies the ss value set in-game with the value set in for example Oculus Tray Tool. I set global ss 2.0 in OTT and 0.7 or 0.8 in-game giving me ss 1.4 or 1.6 in Seeking Dawn.